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P.Diddy Rules, Nigga!

While in Lilongwe, Malawi, I came across a store by the name of â€œNiggers.â€? Thatâ€™s right â€œNiggers.â€? It was manned by two gentlemen one of them asleep. Talk about living up to or in this case down to a stereotype. I asked the guys what was up with the store name. After hearing my obvious non-Malawian accent and figuring out that I was from America, the man thumped his chest proudly and said, â€œP-Diddy New York City! We are the niggers!â€?

Hi Black Folks. I recently completed a charitable bicycle trip in Africa, riding over 7,000 miles from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa. The trip made me the first and only African American to cross two continents on a bicycle. I have plenty of great and fascinating stories. Many are funny, others bittersweet, some are poignant, but all are entertaining. Surprisingly one story has stood out and if it was not for the fact that I have a picture of it, many would never believe it. It is for that reason that I am sharing it.

While in Lilongwe, Malawi, I came across a store by the name of â€œNiggers.â€? Thatâ€™s right â€œNiggers.â€? The other riders, who were all white, could not wait to inform me of this to see my reaction. Initially, I thought that it was a very bad joke but when the other riders were adamant about the existence of the store, I had to see it for myself. What I found was a store selling what the owner called Hip Hop style clothing. It was manned by two gentlemen one of them asleep. Talk about living up to or in this case down to a stereotype. I asked the guys what was up with the store name. After hearing my obvious non-Malawian accent and figuring out that I was from America, the man thumped his chest proudly and said, â€œP-Diddy New York City! We are the niggers!â€?

My first reaction was to laugh, because many things when isolated can be very funny, but it quickly dawned on me that this was so not funny at all. It was pathetic. I did these bicycle trips across the USA and through the Mother Land in honor of one of my good friends, mentors and fellow African American, Kevin Bowser, who died on 9/11. Here I am, a Black man riding across the world on his bicycle in honor of another Black man, riding home and what do I see? Some Africans calling themselves Niggers! They were even so proud of it they put it on their store front to sell stuff. When I relay the story to folks back home in Philadelphia, most of them laugh too and rationalize it by saying, â€œwell, we can say it to each other,â€? or â€œthere is a difference,â€? or even â€œthey just spelled it wrongâ€”it should have been â€˜niggasâ€™ or â€˜niggahs.â€™â€? Gee like that would make a difference.

The issue is not the spelling. I was wrong. We are wrong. There is no justification for an infraction of this magnitude. The word â€“and the sentiment behind itâ€”is flat out wrong! We have denigrated and degraded ourselves to the point that our backwards mindset has spread like a cancer and infected our source, our brothers, our sisters, our Mother Land. I have traveled all over the world and have never seen a store by the name of â€œJew Devils,â€? â€œSpic Bastards,â€? â€œMuff Divin' Dykes,â€? or anything like that-Only the store Niggers!

I am to blame for this. Every time I said the word I condoned it, by not correcting others, or rationalizing it; gave it respectability, by looking the other way when others said â€œhey nigga whatâ€™s up?â€?; allowed others to see it and ultimately, when I purchased CDs, DVDs, T-shirts and other stuff, I enriched it. I now see the error in my ways and I am so sorry Black men and women. The flame that we called entertainment, that was only to warm and entertain us, now engulfs us and scorches our own self esteem. If a child only knows to refer to men and women as niggers, bitches, pimps and hoes, then what is he or she to grow up thinking of themselves and others as he or she gets older?

This is no joke you can see my site http://www.contribute2.org/ and read some more stories. The bottom line is this I rode over 12000 miles on 2 continents through 15 states and 13 countries and broke 2 bikes in the process to get to a store in Africa called Niggers. I am willing to step and admit my part in the havoc that we have wrought on our mindset but I think that we all are to blame.

If you donâ€™t like being called a nigger, bitch, faggot, dyke, spic, Jew dog, wop, towel head or anything of that ilk-then think. Think before you speak those words, write those lyrics, support that rhetoric and most of all think before you purchase! Purchasing is akin to compliance. I may like the beats and rhythms of some songs but I can not support it any more. You rappers are intelligent- find another word to describe your selves. If they call you a nigger itâ€™s one thing but if you answer to it then there is really something wrong!

The writer can be reached through Sylvester_david@hotmail.com Black Star News Editorâ€™s comments: This is the logical conclusion to the self-denigration marketed by companies such as Universal Music Group, EMI, Warner Music and SONY BMG. We are our own worst enemies and can be trusted on annihilating ourselves. Itâ€™s time to stand up. Remember to subscribe to the newsstand edition by clicking on â€œsubscribeâ€? on our homepage or calling (212) 481-7745 for the worldâ€™s favorite Pan-African news weekly. Remember â€œSpeak Truth To Empower.â€?